East River LB Ryne Rankin snares first offer from Cincinnati

(CHRIS HAYS/ORLANDO SENTINEL )

January 7, 2012| By Chris Hays | Orlando Sentinel&nbsp

No matter how you look at the early recruiting happenings for 2013 East River linebacker Ryne Rankin, everything always comes back to Cincinnati, who gave the 6-foot-1, 230-pounder his first college football scholarship offer on Friday.

For beginners, Cincinnati is where it all started for Rankin’s father Marc Rankin, who is head coach at East River.

Coach Rankin was a linebacker out of Winter Park High for the Bearcats From 1998 to 1991.

“It means a lot. It would be cool to go up there and play the same position as my father and follow in his footsteps, maybe even make bigger footsteps and make a bigger move on to the NFL someday,” Ryne Rankin said. “ I want to go into criminal justice and they have a good criminal justice program up there.”

Cincinnati coach Mark Elder was who gave Rankin the good news on Friday and it Rankin said he was overcome by emotion.

“I’m really happy with my offer from Cincinnati. All my hard work is finally paying off,” Rankin said. “I even shed a tear coach Mark Elder told me. I had a loss for words. He told me they were offering me not just because I am a good athlete, but that I have good character and I am a good leader and that meant a lot to me that somebody sees me in that way.”

Rankin, who will graduate early next December, said Elder told him he would be able to step in right away and compete for the Will linebacker position in the 2013 spring session.

He is coming off a junior year during which he had 189 tackles (132 solo), 11 sacks, eight forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, one interception and an offensive touchdown while lining up goal-line as a fullback.

The Sentinel’s No. 8-ranked player in the 2013 Central Florida Super60, was high on Tennessee a few months ago and even said he would commit to the Volunteers if ever offered, has stepped off that stance. Fallout from an assistant coaches exodus at UT has head coach Derek Dooley’s job in limbo.

“There are a lot of changes going on at Tennessee. Coach Sirmon (linebackers coach Peter) is gone and I’m not sure about Coach Dooley,” Rankin said. “I’m leaning toward Cincinnati right now. I’ve got family up there for support. I like it up there. They are my top school right now with all the stuff going on at Tennessee.”

Coaching changes, among other things, have effected a lot of incoming recruits this season in particular. Rankin also had been talking to Notre Dame and assistant coach Tim Hinton, but Hinton just took a job with Urban Meyer as tight ends coach at Ohio State.

“I was in contact a lot with Notre Dame and Tim Hinton, but now I could be in with Ohio State and I would like that, the Buckeyes,” Rankin said.

Hinton was at Cincinnati with head coach Brian Kelly until both moved on to Notre Dame. And guess who else has Cincinnati ties? Yep, Meyer himself is a former Bearcats’ player.